here is no why
by circuswheel
Summary: Set of drabbles. Jade and Robbie find common ground as time wears on.
1. Chapter 1

**here is no why**

**chapter one**

**Rade mostly-drabbles, unrelated to my other fics. Jade and Robbie find common ground as the time wears on.**

It's not like she intended to fall in love with Robbie Shapiro. Sometimes these misfortunate things just happen to her. It's not like she _wanted_ to.

Everything starts one late afternoon when she's working her shift at the shitty Marburn diner. She's only been bussing tables here for a few months – right after Beck – and it sucks but not that badly. Her parents had divorced during her freshman year, and every year, Dad's child support checks seem to get smaller and smaller.

That's fine, you know? She can work for the things she has. She always has to for everything else, anyhow. Something to add to her resume. Actress. Singer. Waitress.

She's just cleared table 7's dirty dishes and is leaning against the drinks counter for a moment, debating if she wants to take her break now or wait until her shift is nearly over, when the entrance door directly parallel to her jingles open and Robbie wanders inside, flanked by two messy-haired children wearing matching red shirts.

They stare at each other for a moment (Jade and Robbie, that is, not the two messy-haired children).

"You!" Jade says, glaring.

"You!" says Robbie, wide-eyed.

She half-expects Robbie to grab up his fledglings and flee the restaurant (the two of them have never exactly had a good rapport, you know, and especially now that she has no ties to Beck), but instead he just crosses the room to stand nearer to her by the counter. The fledglings trail after him.

"I didn't know you worked here!" Robbie says.

She doesn't really have anything to do but glare. "Well, now you know. What are _you_ doing here?" The Marburn is pretty out of the way from where all her friends live and not exactly in the best area – sort of why she'd chosen it as her place of employment.

"Oh," says Robbie. "Well, this is where George (he says it the Spanish way, and she doesn't quite know how to spell that out in her head – Jorge? Hor-Hay?) and Victor live. We were just playing mini-golf! Right guys?"

George and Victor nod.

Jade blinks skeptically at him. The boy is not _normal._ "Robbie, why are you hanging out with eight year olds?"

"Oh," he says again. "Well, do you remember three weeks ago when Andre and I got stuck on the roof of the Black Box in our pear suits and I sort of had to roll down to the second level and then I rolled through a window and broke everything, and then Andre rolled in after me, and then Helen came in to see what was going on, and we sort of barreled over her?"

"No," says Jade.

"Oh," says Robbie. "Well, three weeks ago Andre and I got stuck on the roof of the Black Box in our – "

"Yeah, okay, I get it!"

"Sorry." He grins a little. "Um, Helen was really mad, and we damaged two of the windows. But there's this town program, the Urban Friendship Foundation, it unites the city's neighborhoods – " Jade's eyes are glazing a bit with how much she doesn't care – "and if Andre and I do this program for a month, the municipal building will pay for the new frames." The grin gets a little bigger, and he puts his arms around George and Victor. "These are my Buddies! I'm their Mentor!"

"Oh God," says Jade. To the kids: "I'm so sorry."

"Hey! I'm perfectly capable of being a babysitter!"

"Whatever." She realizes that they could be misconstrued as having a conversation, so she gives him a little glare. "I guess you guys want a table or something."

"Um." He looks at her with slight trepidation. "If that's all right."

"Whatever," she says again. "Follow me, goons." She snags up three menus – the indignity! – and leads them over to the far corner, Emily's section. She's sure as hell not going to wait on them. She makes it a point to give Shapiro a children's menu as well, but he doesn't even have the grace to look deterred.

It's a little after four, so the diner is pretty slow right now – Emily sends her a little glower as Robbie's questioning her about what gluten-free products they serve; her shift is over in a half-hour – and Jade busies herself behind the counter, rolling up silverware for the dinner rush. She can hear Robbie giggling quietly with the two little boys. He's drinking chocolate milk out of a little green cup. She hopes it gives him indigestion.

By the time the ghoul school is done eating, it's nearly five-thirty, and she has to pick up their tab as they're leaving. Robbie looks hesitant after she tosses his change back at him, lingering by the drinks-counter. Victor and George look antsy, so he gives them each a quarter, and they dash off back to the front of the dinner to try and win Silly Bands by the coin machine.

Jade ignores him and continues rolling silverware.

"Um," says Robbie. "So you – how late are you working tonight?"

"Til close." He stares, so she elaborates: "Eleven-thirty."

Robbie squeaks. "That late? It's a _school night!_"

The unfathomable horrors! "I'm pulling a double, loser. Well, a shift-and-a-half. Maria called out."

"Oh," says Robbie, and nods like he knows who Maria is. "Do you – how are you getting home? Is your mom getting you?"

Jade tries not to laugh at the thought of her mother doing anything remotely nice or helpful for her. "I'm taking the bus."

Robbie looks distressed. "Oh," he says again. "That's sort of – dangerous? Do you wait inside the bus terminal?"

She gives him a dark look and doesn't bother to respond, because he is stupid. Inside the bus terminal smells like feet.

"Um," he says. "If you want, I can – pick you up? When you're done."

Jade snorts. Does he really think she's going to risk being seen with him? "But it's a _school night._"

"That's okay," he says. "I'll be up anyway. You don't live that far from me."

She frowns up at him, a little put-off by his insistence. She doesn't know why Robbie'd ever want to do something nice for her. She certainly hasn't done anything for him. She doesn't think the wonderful impressions she'd done all last month of his blustering trying-to-ask-Cat-out speech could be thought of as particularly nice.

"Whatever," she says finally. "It's up to you. I'm out of here at eleven-thirty either way."

"Okay," says Robbie, and grins at her annoyingly. "I'll be here at eleven-twenty."

She doesn't bother to reply. He lingers for a moment longer, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Will you make sure Emily gets her tip?" he asks. "Tell her I'm sorry about the chocolate milk. I hope she can get it out of her shirt."

Jade tries not to smile. "It's not the first time it's happened."

The left corner of Robbie's mouth goes up in an annoying little half-smile. "Okay," he says. "Well, see you."

"Whatever," says Jade. She covertly watches him as he crosses the diner to stand by the boys, leaning down on his knees to pick their prizes out of the crane machine. She hears him say, "Aw, cool, you got a lady pirate sticker!"

Yuck! She leans on the counter and absently watches as he grins and laughs with the boys. The sole man sitting at the counter – he comes in every afternoon usually, drinking shitty coffee and doing paperwork and leaving her bad tips – intones loudly, "Gee, lady, didn't know you got paid to watch your boyfriend interact with Latino children. Some of us been waiting on a refill for ten minutes."

Jade snarls. For that, she brings him out a coffee cup fresh from the broken dishwasher, complete with a lipstick smear on the side. He doesn't notice.


	2. Chapter 2

**chapter two**

November's surprisingly cold this year, frost breeding on the ground early that mid-month morning as Jade stamps her feet out on her front porch, breath visible enough though she hasn't lit up her cigarette yet. Cat's said that her brother would give her a ride this morning, and they're late, as usual.

After another moment, she hears the familiar rumble of Cat and her brother's old car from a few blocks away and pulls her sweatshirt more tightly around her, beginning to descend the steps. She'll save her cigarette (stolen from Mom) for lunch break at school. She could never smoke around Beck without disapproving stares, but now that they've been done for over two months, it's easy to sneak out of the courtyard or library early before lunch ends and hide in the utility closet for a few moments.

"Hi hi," Cat says happily once the car pulls up to the curb and Jade opens the passenger-side door, sliding over to the middle of the front bench-seat.

"Hi hi," Cat's brother repeats in his usual annoying mockingjay voice. From the backseat: "Hi hi," echos Robbie dismally.

"Hey," Jade grunts out in slight surprise, slipping into the car beside Cat. The dented door of the boat-sized car creaks loudly as she slams it shut. "What's Pierrot doing here?"

Cat looks unsurprisingly blank. "Who?" she asks, as her brother grins slowly.

"Nothing," Jade says. "Nevermind."

"I am _not _a clown," says Robbie resentfully. "I prefer to think of myself as a voice actor."

She smirks to herself, leaning back against the headrest of the seat, shoulder resting against Cat's arm. Robbie continues, though she doesn't actually care: "My car is in the shop. Do you remember how my breaks were squealing real badly and then they stopped?"

"_No_," says Jade with force.

"When were you in Robbie's car?" Cat asks.

"Haha," says Robbie nervously. "I mean, I thought I told her. Well, Jade, my car actually isn't Christine. It wasn't fixing itself. I just have needed new brake pads for almost a year and they actually snapped off."

"Oh," she says. Hence his car gently careening past a stop sign as he'd screamed hysterically three nights ago.

It had been the third time he'd picked her up from work. She wonders if he wants money or something. She hadn't _asked_ him to. He'd just asked if she would be closing again, and when she'd said yes, there he had been, car idling in the parking lot, promptly at eleven twenty-five. Who was she not to accept a free ride?

An Outkast song comes on the radio, and Cat's brother turns it up. Jade watches Robbie's eyebrows shoot up in the rearview mirror as Cat and her brother immediately begin singing and shimmying in tandem.

"_Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts_

_And Monte Carlo's and El Dorado's_

_I'm waking up out of my slumber feeling like Ralo  
So follow, it's showtime at the Apollo – " _

Cat and her brother flap their hands in each others' face, then dissolve briefly into laughter before managing to begin the chorus with gusto. Jade eloquently spits some of Cat's hair out of her mouth.

Robbie looks overwhelmed. Jade smirks, thinks of the cigarette in her hoodie pocket with longing.

Cat's brother gets them to Hollywood Arts four minutes before the first bell rings, about the norm for them (and fairly late for everyone else). Jade's not sure how he makes it across town without being late, but she doesn't think he cares too much. He and Cat are fraternal twins, but Cat got the voice talent and he got more of the crazy, and he's a senior over at Northridge. They rush into the school and Cat makes a right towards her locker and Jade and Robbie head to the left.

Jade battles with her locker as Robbie, who's been assigned directly across the hall from her in a possible attempt by Hollywood Arts authorities to have her transfer out, kicks at his to open it.

You'd think the school would use some of its astronomical budget to purchase new locks every over decade or so. But Jade supposes that since Tori's transferred in, they're spending most of Jade's parents money on _making sure Miss Make It Shine gets to star in everything ever._

Great, now she's started thinking of how annoying Tori is before first period's even began! She gives the dial of her locker another futile twist, already beginning to grind her teeth. Today's sure to be one big headache. "God _damn_ it."

Behind her, she hears the soft squeak of Robbie being hovering and hesitant. "Do you – " he tries, then apparently switches tactics. "Is your locker stuck too?"

Jade gives him a dark look over her shoulder. "No, I just think it's fun to pretend I can't get it open. I love looking like an ass in the hallways, don't ya know."

Robbie gives her a dark glance of his own, which is sort of amusing, because it makes him look like an idiot. He comes over to stand by her locker and looks over at her once again, this time warily, fiddling at nothing with his hands so that the cuffs of his sweater fall over his skinny wrists. Jade takes a speculative step back and makes an unnecessary-and-stupid presenting motion with her hands, giving him access to her locker. Oh well, it's just Robbie, anyway.

Robbie rolls up one sleeve of his sweater, sets her lock to zero, then grabs the handle of the locker and pulls at the same time that he gives the door a little kick. It makes a rather loud protesting creak and then swings open.

"Oh," she says dumbly.

Robbie grins and looks inanely pleased with himself over doing something so menial. "Just like mine," he says. "I think they reset the locks over the summer and never programed them."

"Oh," she says again, because she hadn't known you could even do that. The bell rings, and they both scream a little in dismay. Whenever you're late to Sikowitz's class he always makes you do something stupid. Robbie nicely waits for her to gather her books so that they can make the death march into Improv together.

Sikowitz waves a purple ruler about when they come through the doorway. "Miss West and Mister Shapiro!" he says. "Canoodling out in the hallway as usual!"

"_What?_" they say. Andre, who Jade's never liked anyway, chuckles loudly.

Sikowitz waves some more. "ABC improv!" he cries, and they both groan. "See how many rounds you can get in before I lose interest. Gentleman first, Robbie." With a purple flourish, he points Robbie to the stage.

Robbie sighs heavily and goes to stand on the stage platform. "Aren't there laws against this sort of thing in other countries?"

The corner of Jade's mouth turns up without her meaning to. "Bulgaria is bordered to the east by the Black Sea."

"Could you kindly repeat that?"

"Don't you even listen when I talk?"

"Even if I did it wouldn't make any sense."

"Forgive me, I have a little speech impediment."

Robbie takes a second to think. "Goat's milk could help with that."

"Hello, tried it already."

Sikowitz is nodding approvingly, moving to sit and relax at his desk as they go on. They make it through the alphabet twice before Cat wanders in, later than late, and has to join them, then starts in on the wrong letter and messes everyone up.

Once class ends, Jade stands beside Cat's desk, waiting for her to pack up her things so they can head to English together. It's not like they're _best friends_ or anything horrible like that, but she and Cat have had English together after Improv since freshman year. It's just habit, you know. Plus, on the weeks that her brother gets the car, Cat always makes him pick up Jade.

"Sorry I messed up your act," Cat says. She roots around in her backpack, pulls out a candy bar, looks at it speculatively.

"It's okay," says Robbie, who is annoying Jade by also still being in the classroom.

Jade snatches the candy bar away before Cat can become distracted, but the girl just giggles, sidetracked anyway. "It sounded like you guys were _on fire_. Maybe you should get paired together more."

"Um," says Robbie.

"Yeah," says Jade, "how 'bout not."

Cat hums and looks sadly at the candy bar, so Jade stuffs it quickly into her own purse, glaring.

Robbie fiddles with his own backpack which probably doesn't contain numerous candy bars. "So you - " he says. "Jade, do you – want to sit with us at lunch?"

Jade snorts. "Yeah right."

Cat pouts. Robbie falters. "Oh," he says. "I just thought – "

"Thought _what_?"

"Well, I just – Cat gave you a ride and stuff, I didn't know you guys got rides together – "

"Jade won't ride with me when I have the car because I pick up Tori!" Cat burbles annoyingly, spewing Jade's business as usual.

Robbie blinks. "Um," he says, "fair enough. I just thought, you know, Jade, I thought it would be nice – "

He sounds like Beck or something, which hits a chord in her – not a good one.

"I'm not nice," Jade says, and walks away to class without Cat.

She does sit with them, though – it's _whatever,_ all right?! Maybe Robbie has half a point or something … a quarter of a point, even. It wouldn't _kill_ her to be the tiniest bit nicer to Cat.

Actually, it really might kill her, to tell the truth, but no one gives a hoot about that, now do they?

Cat picks the brightest, sunniest spot to sit at in the courtyard and she happily eats her sandwich and drinks from her three different juice boxes, talking on about Improv and candy and what movie she should watch when she gets home. Robbie makes absent sounds of agreement at her and eats his chickpeas. God, he listens to this _every day_?

There had been a point when they'd all sat together – Jade and Beck and Cat and Robbie and Andre. Beck was friends with them, and Jade sort of knew Cat from English, after all. When Tori had transferred into Hollywood Arts, she'd joined them, and sometimes Jade had made Beck sit alone with her to get away.

Now that they were broken up, well – sometimes Beck sat with Tori and Andre, sometimes with Cat and Robbie, but mostly he hung out with other seniors now, people Jade didn't know. Jade usually skipped and ate lunch in the library.

She stabs absently at her salad and tries to covertly glower over across the courtyard at where Beck is sitting with his new squeeze, some punk junior. She's tall and stick-thin, with a shaved part in her multicolored locks. She has a nose ring and a lot of earrings. She's very pale. Jade's fork scrapes the plate particularly hard when Beck laughs loudly at something the girl has said.

Next to her, Robbie crunches loudly on a carrot stick. "I think he's overcompensating a little too much," he says.

Jade raises an eyebrow impassively, looking down at her wilted lettuce. She doesn't mean to, but: "Whattdya mean?"

_Crunch, crunch_. "Nothing, she just – well, I don't know. Beck's – I don't know." He wipes his mouth, takes another bite. "She's not very smart, either. He – he had a bunch of them over at the RV the other day. We were watching Star Wars and she had a million questions about everything."

Jade snorts. She's had to sit through that, six hours of the horror of the most boring movies ever. For all the hype, they're pretty straight-forward. Harrison Ford was pretty cute, though. "I don't care," she tells her salad. "I mean, he can do whatever he wants. Or whoever."

"I like you better," Cat says blithely, and Jade glares over at her sharply. She hadn't realized Cat had been listening.

Robbie clears his throat. "Um, me too," he says.

"I don't care," Jade says again, even though the both of them saying that has made her feel sort of – well, you know, good. She hasn't done anything to make either of them like her more than anyone.

Robbie hums. _Crunch. _

"God, you pig," she says. "That's like your fourth bag of food."

_Crunch, crunch_. Robbie tries to glower at her around his mouthful of carrot, fails, and swings his water. They're all silent for a few minutes, eating (well, Bozo and Cat eating, and Jade glowering). After a few moments, Jade says, "I'm working late tonight. I'm closing."

"Okay," Robbie says once he finishes the rest of his carrot. "Um. I have my car back now. Eleven-thirty?"

"Yeah," she says.

Cat looks interested, but doesn't make comments. Jade pulls the candy bar out of her purse and starts unwrapping it.

**AN: The more you know – from Wikipedia: ****_the defining characteristic of Pierrot is his naivete. He is seen as a fool, always the butt of pranks, yet nonetheless trusting._**

**Christine is the title of a Stephen King novel. The car, Christine, runs people down, then 'heals' itself. There's some joke in there about me being idiotic and running my brakes into the ground.**

**I don't know if any of y'all noticed I made Cat and her brother twins. :) I don't think I've seen that one done before? Cat's brother is so fun to me because we don't know anything about his age or what he looks like, so I love putting him in my fics! I figure he must be at least the same age if not older than Cat, though, since they borrowed his car in an episode.**


	3. Chapter 3

**chapter three**

She'd like to say that how she begins hanging out with Robbie outside of school is all his fault, too, but it isn't, not really – one day, he asks her if she'd like to come over, and she says yes.

Well, that's not exactly how it went. It was less of her wanting to and more of her having very few other options. Yes, that's it.

It's Friday, and the last bell of the day has just rung a moment ago. Jade slams her locker shut with much force, holding her American Lit book tightly against her chest. They've been studying the Transcendentalists this month, and the five-page paper that's due tomorrow, well – let's just say that she hasn't started it, because … you know, she hasn't started it.

It's purely coincidental that Puppet Nerd is finishing up at his own locker at this particular time, and he moves quickly to walk in step with her as she makes her way down the hallway. When he doesn't say anything right away, Jade shoots him a mistrustful glance. "What do you want?"

"You seem to be getting increasingly agitated as the day goes on," says Robbie. "Are you – um, are you all right?"

Jade almost stops walking in surprise, because, really, she can't remember the last time anyone's asked something that simple – if she was all right. She guesses that the general consensus is just: _no, she's not,_ and_ don't bother._ She manages only a small stutter in her step, though, clenching her jaw to keep her scowl set hard on her face as she keeps on towards the main exit. "Oh, I'm just peachy," she tells him.

There's the long silence of Robbie being hovering and doubtful, which is what he generally is.

She isn't actually just peachy, and after another few seconds of him not speaking, Jade barrels out: "It's just, you know, this stupid English paper, I forgot it was due, and I don't want to have to go home and write it, it's the freaking weekend, you know?"

"Well," says Robbie.

"I mean, it's freaking Friday, that means my stupid mom will probably have her idiot new boyfriend over for the whole night, they drink too much and they're way too goddamn loud, his cologne freaking reeks, and I won't be able to get anything done, and I'm just really pissed off, okay?"

"Oh," says Robbie. "I'm – I'm sorry."

"Whatever," Jade grits out, furious at herself for slipping up – she is well aware that people don't really care to hear about your life when it isn't perfect. Everyone here would rather dance around their problems, pretend they don't exist, make a song out of it. _Here's to the Mondays. _Here's to the Fridays, too.

Robbie doesn't say anything else, which is irritating, and he keeps walking beside her until they reach the parking lot, which is even more irritating. Jade whirls away from him once they reach the cement steps, intent on leaving him without saying goodbye – why would she? – when he clears his throat.

"Jade," he says quickly, "you can come to my house if you want. Um. I won't, you know. Be drinking."

She stops, back to him, and for once, she really has nothing to say.

"I mean," Robbie continues, and he sounds really unsure of himself now, "I have the same paper as you. My mom won't be home until late, so – so there's no one to bother us."

Jade chews on her bottom lip thoughtfully, turning to look at him. His earnest face practically kills her, so instead of bursting out with a biting quip as she'd been planning, she just says, stunted, "Ah, I dunno."

Robbie beams at her hopefully – he's always damn smiling at her, what's he need to do that for? – and he says, the clincher, "There's an Inside Out Burger right up the street from me."

"You paying?" She folds her arms, considering him.

More beaming. "Yeah, yeah, of course!"

She holds his gaze for a long moment, eyes narrowed, trying to psych him out – if she can make him break and retract his statement, they can just part ways now, none the wiser, with nothing changed. He just looks back at her, though, bug-eyed, holding Rex limply at his side, and – well, she _really_ doesn't want to go home, you know?

"All right," she says finally, dropping his gaze. "Fine. What else've I got to do?"

Robbie gives out one of his excited yelps. "So you'll come over?" he cries.

"Christ, don't broadcast it!"

"Sorry." He gives her an apologetic look before breaking out into another one of his insufferable grins. "Come on!" he says, glowing, and reaches for her arm before he remembers that he values his life and lets his hand drop. "My car's this way!"

Jade watches after him for a moment, features twisted up at the pain of him, before heaving out a sullen sigh and pushing herself forward, following.

At least this means she doesn't have to catch the bus home.

* * *

Robbie's home – house, half-house, duplex, whatever the hell you call it – isn't really the sort of place she'd expected him to live in. She'd always imagined he resided in some sort of sterile environment, like a giant test tube, or a containment cell, like the ones those androids are always sleeping inside of in the scifi movies Beck had used to make her watch. Robbie lives just outside of LA, in one of the more suburban sections, not in the hills where Beck and Tori's houses are.

Inside the house is cramped and sort of dark, and Robbie rushes across the living room to turn on a lamp that's perched on an end table aside a rather fittingly hideous plaid-patterned couch.

Jade gazes surreptitiously around the room as Robbie putters about, shoving a stack of magazines off of the coffee table and grabbing up a pile of sweaters from the couch.

"Sorry," he apologizes, "sort of messy, my mom's been working late a lot – "

"It's cool," Jade says absently, still looking about. Oh my god, a baby picture of Robbie on a bearskin rug! She moves closer to the picture, exclaiming, "Shapiro, Jesus, how were you such a fat baby?!"

"Oh god," says Robbie in what is actually only moderate distress. "I forgot that was just out. You'll find a lot of random childhood pictures of me in all variations of baby fat thrown around here. Do you want a soda or something?"

The perks of being at Robbie's house. At least that's something, right? Jade responds, "Sure," still holding the picture in a great joy. Baby Robbie's mouth is open in a big drooly grin at the camera, and his one baby tooth shines gleamingly in the flash of the camera. "God, what else do you got around here?"

Robbie makes another distressed little noise and floats off towards what is presumably the kitchen, still clutching the mountain of sweaters.

Jade's picking up and inspecting an old bookend, chipped and shaped like a half-globe, when Robbie returns, glasses jiggling with ice – "I hope you like pineapple soda, because we don't have anything else" – and she starts when a pile of blankets in the corner of the room shifts suddenly.

Robbie titters. "Just the cat," he says, placing the two glasses carefully on the edge of coffee table and collapsing down on the couch.

"The cat," Jade repeats blankly, and watches as the blankets shift again to reveal the most bit-up and decrepit-looking tabby the world has ever seen. It must have been orange at some point, but its fur is now a shineless dishwater-rust color, and its tail is kinked, with a little bald spot at the tip. It trains its watery gaze on her, rocking on its fat haunches for a moment before slowly creaking into a sitting position. "God, what a mess."

Robbie gives her a reproachful look. "Ginger is old!" he says.

"_Ginger?_"

The cat yowls softly at the mention of its name, and moves with rather alarming speed to make a wide beeline around Jade, coming to rest at the foot of the couch and staring raptly up at Robbie. Jade continues, "Did you find that thing on the street or something?"

"No!" says Robbie. "Ginger has been around since I was a baby. She's very nice."

Ginger growls agreeably.

"Well," says Robbie. "I mean. She was nice. Sometimes. I mean, she doesn't like loud noises or new people very much. Or the front door. I've slammed her tail in the front door four times now."

"Jesus, Shapiro!" Jade says, coming around to the side of the couch and sitting carefully at the end. "That's abuse!"

Robbie looks upset. "It is not!" he says. "It was accidental!"

Ginger lets out another yowl, creaking up once more to stand, and Jade watches as the cat trains its eyes from Robbie to the couch cushion that's beside him, and its fat and ancient haunches begin to sway, judging the jump.

"No," Robbie tells it rapidly. "You can't come up. Company's here."

Ginger sways some more.

"Oh God," says Robbie in distress.

"Just let it happen, Robbie," Jade says, feeling pretty happy and amused despite herself, and reaches down to pull her English book up onto her lap.

The cat leaps messily, front paws thudding rather gloriously in Shapiro's lap, and Jade laughs in glee as Robbie emits a strangled yelp which can only mean one thing: _fat cat paws on your balls. _Ginger's back legs dangle dangerously off of the edge of the couch for a moment, and she emits another rusted yowl, scratching furiously until she rights herself, then turns once and collapses down on Robbie.

Robbie sighs heavily, calming himself. The cat begins to purr loudly, seemingly undeterred when Robbie reaches around her to take his own English book out.

Jade smirks. She writes her paper.

**Hey all! I'm busy working a lot AS USUAL and school's starting again *pouts*. But this story got a few reviews recently, and I thought about how much I hated finding a story I liked that was abandoned, so I decided to not let this be abandoned! It's not much, but it's something, and now that I've got them hanging out, I can get to the fun parts. Sorry for errors, I only read through this once.**


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